Friday, June 19, 2009

It Doesn't Get Better Than This, Or Worse

Congress sent President Obama a massive spending bill aimed at ensuring that the military efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan won't run out of money in the coming months.

The Senate approved the measure 91 to 5, despite complaints from several senators about the add-ons that pushed the total more than $20 billion above Obama's funding request. The House approved it Tuesday, 226 to 202.

I can't find a transcript of Senate majority leader Sen. Harry Reid's statement supporting continued funding for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, but this comes from his official web site:

America's Armed Forces are unequaled in strength, unrivaled in professionalism, and unprecedented in success. As our troops defend our nation in Iraq, and Afghanistan we must ensure that our military stays the strongest fighting force in the world. As Nevada's soldiers and premier military facilities make valuable contributions to America's defense, I remain committed to ensuring that Nevada's military personnel and their families have the necessary resources and support. America's security must come first.

Here's Reid's statement on March 27, 2009, when Democrats tried to pass a supplemental funding bill with timelines:

"The American people spoke on November 7th saying the direction of the war was wrong, and that we as a Democratic Congress should do something about it and we have. The ball is now in the President's court. We need to redeploy those troops, and we need, by the year 2008, the 1st of April to have our troops home."

"If the President is unwilling to recognize that there is a separate branch of government that is equal under our constitution to the executive branch of government, then it's too bad for him. He has to sit down and negotiate with us. He should do that, otherwise he's going to have to veto this, and he's the reason that the troops won't have the supplies that they need."

"President Bush has to understand there's a new Congress. For six years, he's ignored Congress. The Republican-dominated House and Senate gave President Bush everything he wanted, and look at the fix we're in as a country. We have 3,300 dead Americans in Iraq, we have 25,000 wounded, we have a President who didn't take care of the necessities so that these men and women coming back to America after fighting in Iraq would have proper training to get them well. It simply has been a mismatch from the very beginning.

So I say to President Bush: Understand that this Congress has done what the American people asked us to do. You listen to the American people for a change."

The dishonesty, hypocrisy and partisan opportunism is nauseating. This is yet another proof that there's no fundamental difference between the two political parties.